March 21, 2026
Little Caesars Arena (Capacity: 19,515)
Detroit, MI
Detroit Red Wings vs Boston Bruins
Final Score: 2 – 4
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This was my third visit to Detroit and after having seen the Tigers and Lions, I came to see the Red Wings and the final big facility. The Motor City is located in Southeast Michigan along the Detroit River, which divides the U.S. and Canada, along with connecting the Great Lakes. The story of Detroit is often focused on the last 100 years. The first half featured wealth and success in the form of being the automotive industry’s world leader. The second half starting towards the 1970s began a sharp decline as foreign competition made a major dent in the local economy. This led to the city spiraling into poverty and rapidly declining population, amongst other issues. While Detroit still has problems and a big number of abandoned buildings, downtown and the beautiful architecture highlighted by art-deco skyscrapers has many areas of resurgence. Population is 640,000 (27th in the U.S.) which is well less than half of its peak in the 1950s. The Detroit Red Wings are an Original Six NHL franchise and they are one of the most successful, having won 11 Stanley Cups. Their ebbs and flows are quite dramatic as they have very lengthy periods of sustained winning and losing throughout their history. More recently, The Wings had a streak of making the playoffs 25 straight times, which ended in 2017. Remarkably, they then followed that up with missing the playoffs for 9 straight years. Names that stick out from my childhood youth are Yzerman, Lidstrom and Federov. However the most famous Red Wing undoubtedly is Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe, who had a 25-year career in Detroit. In 2017, the Red Wings moved to Little Caesars Arena (LCA), a name that comes from the Pizza company that team owners, the Ilitch Family founded. The Detroit Pistons of the NBA also last-minute moved to play here as well. LCA features all the bells and whistles of this newer phase of NHL Arena. There are elements that make this a fantastic place, however, I couldn’t get past the terrible 200 level.
Prestige Ranking: 3.5 out of 5
Location
Detroit may not be high on the list of cities to visit, but it is growing as a regional travel destination. The Henry Ford in nearby Dearborn is the largest indoor-outdoor museum in the country and you can explore amazing collections in innovation and the automotive industry. Within the city, the Motown Museum dives into the historic influence that Detroit had on music, while downtown features an impressive collection of plazas, statues and parks. LCA is somewhat separated from downtown starting at I-75 despite the highway being below street level. The growing development into what is known as “District Detroit” will feature plenty of mixed-use buildings. Nine years after opening, a good chunk of the promised development has still yet to occur and when we visited in 2026, there wasn’t much to get excited about. There’s a bunch of apartments across the street from the arena, while other surroundings featured lots, garages and various other buildings of little interest to the sports fan. To be fair, there are restaurants within the arena that have an outdoor entrance on Woodward Ave. The pregame hot spot on this side of I-75 is Harry’s as the sports bar caters to Wings/Pistons fans and is real close the arena entrance. We started here and found it way to be way too loud and crowded to have an enjoyable pre-game meal (the food was just ok). It might have been better to just start in the arena development restaurants. Otherwise, just a handful of blocks going south towards downtown is Comerica Park and a more lively district including the Fox Theatre and Hockeytown Café.
Location Ranking: 6 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
Downtown is accessible via a multitude of highways. The simplest way to reach Detroit’s sports facilities including LCA and surrounding areas of parking, is via Exit 50 from I-75. There are many lots and garages scattered about within walking distance and with a little research, you can find a good one that avoids cost and distance. This neat little guide aids in that. Since our plan was to get there well before gates open, we tried those visitor spots in front of Cass Tech. It worked beautifully as there were a handful that were empty and these free spaces were a short distance from LCA. It also led to an easy departure for Route 10 North and then the connecting highways. If those Cass Tech spots are full, try the free Motor City Casino garage if you don’t mind walking (18 minutes). Otherwise, outside of street parking, the other nearby lots and garages close to the arena will be costly and take more time to get out of after the game. As for traffic coming in, Metro Detroit has its congestion and construction. It wasn’t too problematic though for our Saturday Night trip. In terms of public transportation, it is limited. There is at least a 6 mile streetcar loop that connects Downtown with Midtown and the North End, with a stop in front of the arena.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 7 out of 8
Exterior
There isn’t a unifying theme throughout as the facility is a conglomeration of brick walls, black trim and glass windows. More like an enlarged office complex. Multiple sections make up the generally four-sided building and much of that is due to the attached restaurants and extended concourse. Little Caesars Arena signage can be found in plenty of places on the building…too bad it’s an awful name for a sports facility.
Exterior Ranking: 5.5 out of 10
Concourse
Concourses are excellent and it starts at street-level. Initially dubbed “The Via”, this area mimics an indoor street-scape and it’s even complete with a clear plastic roof to let in natural light. There’s also a paneled, metallic cover to the face of the arena that can illuminate. Restaurants (both sit-down and take-out) line the brick outlined walls, while the rest of the area has a sleek look without losing character for both teams. There are places to sit or stand and lean if you’re looking to stretch the legs. The rest of the lower concourse never got too crowded and the design the rest of the way varied between charcoal, white and red. As we went to the upper concourse, I couldn’t believe that it wasn’t miles up the arena. Just a short escalator ride reached this level and unlike many other arenas, the spacing did not drop off significantly. Portals lead to each section and it is this number on the ticket that is important to spot because the entries to the arena go up or down to multiple section seating. Cleverly done. The only hinderance from a perfect score is the absence of an ice view for non-suite/club holders.
Concourse Ranking: 4.5 out of 5
Food
Two things that the city brings to the food world: Detroit-Style Pizza and a Coney. Both are thankfully at LCA and for the pizza, you can go to Mike’s or Little Caesars to try the unique square style. National Coney Island serves not only their Hot Dog with chili, but they also have their famous Hani’s. The rest of the offerings in the arena are decent as they range from a wide variety of sandwiches to TexMex, Bowls and Salads. It’s the restaurants and food court with the ability to grab & go that sets everything apart. For alcohol, there are plenty of varieties and on the beer side of things, breweries from Michigan are featured. More specific to Detroit is Atwater Brewing, where they had cans of Dirty Blonde.
Food Ranking: 8 out of 8
Interior
Lower Bowl fantastic…Upper Bowl horrendous. Let’s start down low as the oval of seating surrounding the rink is plentiful and reminiscent of Montreal. In fact, 10,500 total seats are in this area and that’s more than half the capacity. It is steep and sightlines are excellent, as are the cushy chairs. The issue for the average fan in having so much capacity in the lower deck are that these are the most expensive seats and when you slap a “100s” section on the ticket, the prices can be defended as being high. That limits your “cheaper seat” inventory, lining the owners pockets and pricing more people out. Maybe I could be ok with this if the upper deck seating was fine. It absolutely is not in Detroit as the chairs were some of the tightest I’ve ever sat in at a professional venue. Width, length and even armrests were so narrow that it was uncomfortably squished. Yes, it also is steep up here, but to make matters worse are the lengthy Gondolas running down the side. These arrangements (one side for premium seats, the other for media) seclude the 200 level and the further back you are makes you feel like you’re a peon not even in the arena (you can’t see the center scoreboard as the gondola blocks it). Ringing around the middle part of the bowl are a few levels of suites and clubs. At LCA, you’ll see a lot of red and that’s enhanced by the color-changing LED panels at the top below the roof. There used to be even more red with the seat color, but that was changed to black so that empties weren’t as noticeable. As the arena basks in a red glow when the game is not going on, it sets the mood and is a great look.
Interior Ranking: 9 out of 14
Scoreboard
A great scoreboard doesn’t need to extend the length of the arena and this is a perfect example. It’s simple with four screens and with excellent size and clarity. A “Little Caesars Arena” sign lays across the top. The board uses video to nearly the full extent as game information is laid out perfectly at the bottom (with some neat stats too). More stats and player details can be found on boards at the upper end. The best feature were the replays that they did during gameplay! Never seen that and it was nice not to have to wait for a whistle to see something close.
Scoreboard Ranking: 4 out of 4
Displays
Pictures of past and present greats for both teams can be found both inside and out, however make no mistake that this arena was built for the Red Wings (it was the Pistons that became second tenants late in the game). There are honors for both, but the three statues are past hockey players: Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay and Alex Delvecchio. These concourse honors aren’t any old statue, they are 4-D, depicting a player in motion. Cool concept, though if you view it from an odd direction, it can look strange. Team history isn’t exuberantly displayed in the concourse, but there is an honor section in the upper concourse shaped like a varying angled tent. Displays and touch screens provide enough of an overview in a well-done manner. Inside the arena, I was wondering where the banners were? Then the game started and poof, they were there! Red Wings and Pistons championships / retired numbers repel down with a button push from a little slits underneath the roof. Nice!
Displays Ranking: 5.5 out of 6
Cost
Parking is $25 – $50, but you can easily get this down to being free if you are savvy or willing to walk (from casino garages). As for tickets, get-in pricing ranges from $50 to $100. Ours was in the upper-middle of that as it was a Saturday Night game against Boston with playoff implications. We waited a few days prior and got seats for $85 in Row 2 of the 200s. The lowest price was $68, but again this upper deck is terrible to sit in. Anything in the Mezzanine or 100s was over $150. Around the league, I took a look at lowest resale prices for home teams on this date and Detroit was 4th highest out of 11 teams, while the following Saturday (an 8 PM game vs Philly for get in of $75), the Red Wings were 5th out of 15 teams. That fits the feel factor of where they generally rank league-wide for overall cost when the team is competitive. In terms of Concessions, a Hot Dog was $7, Pizza slice $10 and a beer around $15(!).
Cost Ranking: 5 out of 8
Fan Support
Through decades of watching the NHL, I’ve had the sentiment “There’s more empties than I would have thought” more in Detroit than other places. I’ve thought that when seeing games at The Joe and in LCA (especially during the initial years). Maybe it’s the local economy?, but something I’ve noticed. Anyway, the game we attended in late March was a big one for trying to end the playoff-less streak and I was happy to see a very good crowd. It was 90% full and most of the empties were relegated to just the pricey lower club sections. Late in the game though, the place cleared out when Boston made it 4-2 with 1:54 to play (it’s not over!). The Wings certainly resonate and matter a lot throughout Detroit, but it’s important to note that this is a Lions town first. Tigers and Wings are close for second.
Fan Support Ranking: 6.5 out of 8
Atmosphere
Given the stakes, the atmosphere should have been good and it was. As the team came out for warmups, the fans that were already in their seats gave them a rousing ovation. There were frequent rounds of “Let’s Go Wings” during the game and the crowd reacted well when warranted. Goals were loud as the building rocked after each one. We still need to see what LCA gets like for playoff noise and even without that known, I think I’d rank the noise-level / atmosphere in the #8 – #12 range. One big miss…The Wings were down 3-2 in the third period and putting pressure on. WHY did they never bust out “Don’t Stop Believin'”? Man, that would have gotten the place on their feet, ready to rally them, especially after that line “Born and raised in South Detroit”. Opportunity missed there. I probably felt compelled to go a little lower because watching a game three days later on a Tuesday, the atmosphere was rather quiet (and they were still in a playoff race).
Atmosphere Ranking: 9.5 out of 14
Other Stuff
Before this game, we saw an octopus fly onto the ice. This occasional tradition dates back to 1952 when a fish market owner threw one on the ice to symbolize the number of wins for the Stanley Cup (8 at the time and 8 legs for the creature). During the Joe Louis Arena days, manager Al Sobotka would infamously swing the octopus above his head (ew). That tradition evolved through the years, namely so that octopus juice wouldn’t go all over the ice…..Detroit’s hockey arena history begins with Olympia Stadium in the northwest part of the city. The old red barn with the large arena name lettering lasted over 50 years, until the team moved downtown to Joe Louis Arena in 1979. The Joe was one of the last old-school places to host the NHL until closing in 2017. The Pistons former home was in the suburbs at The Palace at Auburn Hills….Outside the back entrance of the arena is the Chevrolet Plaza, a big space with a large screen that is set-up for watch parties…..I’ve heard many local broadcast teams throughout the league and have always thought Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond were one of the better ones…..Another great name is Lance Luce as he is the organist at LCA and does a fantastic job through the game.
Game
This was an important one as both Boston and Detroit came in tied in points for the final playoff spot in the East. It was scoreless after the first period, but only by a few tenths of a second as J.T. Compher knocked the puck past the line just barely after the clock struck zero. The Red Wings did manage to get on the board first early in the 2nd period and things were pretty even much of the game. It was 2-2 in the third period, when John Gibson let in a softie as the Bruins took the lead with 10:18 to play. We got to see a penalty shot a few minutes later (Boston’s Lukas Reichel was stopped) and then Detroit put a ton of pressure on, but couldn’t get the tying goal. Jeremy Swayman finished with 41 saves, 19 of them in the final frame, as the Bruins got a key win.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
